• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Chemistry and Biochemistry
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Chemistry and Biochemistry
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Scholarworks@UACommunitiesPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    First Time Submitters, Register Here

    Register

    Statistics

    Display statistics

    Air quality degradation in Alaska wilderness areas due to emission changes

    • CSV
    • RefMan
    • EndNote
    • BibTex
    • RefWorks
    Thumbnail
    Name:
    Trang Tran.pdf
    Size:
    10.16Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Description:
    Revised version 1/10/14
    Download
    Author
    Tran, Trang T.
    Chair
    Cahill, Catherine
    Committee
    Webley, Peter
    Newby, Gregory
    Simpson, William
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11122/4610
    Abstract
    The increasing trends in aerosol concentrations observed by the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network in the wilderness areas along the Gulf of Alaska during low insolation periods and in Denali National Park and Preserve (Denali NP) during high insolation periods have raised the concerns about air quality degradation and visibility impairment in these pristine areas. This dissertation aims to investigate the reason for those observed increases in aerosol concentrations in Alaska wilderness areas by performing a series of simulation sets with the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). These simulation sets use the same meteorological conditions but change the emission scenarios. The model evaluation analysis showed that WRF-Chem performed well in simulating meteorological conditions over Alaska and the North Pacific under both low and high insolation conditions. Performance skill-scores of the WRF-Chem model in simulating aerosol concentrations for the coastal monitoring sites along the Gulf of Alaska were consistent with state-of-the-science air-quality model performance. During low insolation periods, domestic and international ship emissions were the most important contributors to aerosol concentrations in the coastal regions along the Gulf of Alaska. The increases/decreases in ship emissions led to subsequent increases/decreases in aerosol concentrations in the coastal areas along the Gulf of Alaska during low insolation periods. During high insolation periods, in Interior Alaska, the contributions of local wildfire emissions to aerosol concentrations were notable even during the weak Alaska fire activity scenario. Under the strong Alaska fire activity scenario, local wildfire emissions were the dominant source of aerosols in Interior Alaska. The increases in Alaskan wildfire emissions led to significant increases in aerosol concentrations in Interior Alaska. During both low and high insolation periods, Japanese anthropogenic and Siberian wildfire emissions were not important contributors to total aerosol concentrations in all regions of Alaska. Overall in the wilderness areas along the Gulf of Alaska, the increases in aerosol concentrations observed during low insolation periods stemmed from increases in domestic and international ship emissions in the North Pacific. In contrast, the increases in aerosol concentrations observed at Denali NP during high insolation periods stemmed from increases in Alaskan wildfire emissions.
    Description
    Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2013
    Table of Contents
    1. Introduction -- 2. Experimental design and methodology -- 3. Emission inventory -- 4. Impacts of emission changes on sulfate aerosols in Alaska -- 5. Potential impacts of an emission control area on air quality in Alaska coastal regions -- 6. Impacts of wildfire emissions and their changes on PM₂.₅ concentrations and speciation in Alaska -- 7. Conclusions.
    Date
    2013-08
    Type
    Dissertation
    Collections
    Chemistry and Biochemistry

    entitlement

     
    ABOUT US|HELP|BROWSE|ADVANCED SEARCH

    The University of Alaska is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, educational institution and provider and prohibits illegal discrimination against any individual.

    Learn more about UA’s notice of nondiscrimination.

    Open Repository is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

    Export search results

    The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

    By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

    To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

    After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.